Love Soup

I am pretty sure that I already mentioned this, but I love soup. Love it. And, my husband and kids love it. It is a total win-win situation for us so when I heard about this new soup book called Love Soup I knew I had to check it out. It is full of vegetarian soups, many of which can be made vegan for those who swing that way. I just got it from the library the other day and have tabbed countless soups I want to try and we even tried one. It was delicious. A friend gave us some zucchini from her garden (I love that I live in Portland and there are still fruits and vegetables coming on!) so we made the Zucchini Potato Soup (I didn't have time or ingredients to make a vegetable broth so I just used chicken broth I had on hand). It was yummy. I think it would make for a better late summer soup when the evenings are cool but comfortable than a warm-me-up fall soup. No bother. We still ate it and loved it. It was a brothy soup with zucchini, potatoes, basil, and parsley. Light, not over powering. Yum. I love this book so much that I have already added it to our Christmas list. I heard about it from Angry Chicken's blog, a great blog for all people who love food and crafting, especially if you live in Portland (she goes to great local shops). So, go now, find the book and check it out! (FYI I was not paid to rave about this book, it is just pure love).

Applesauce

Yummy, fresh apples made into delicious applesauce. I decided not to add any sugar because I figure that way people could make them as sweet as they want. Our boys don't care that there is no sugar and they devour the applesauce. Bowls are returned licked clean. I love how the peels turned it pink.

Here is what we did: rinse the apples, cut out the seeds and stem (it is not necessary to cut out the whole core), cut the apples into 2-inch chunks, place in a pot with about 1/2-inch or so of water (watch the water, you don't want them to be too runny but you also don't want burning or sticking because that would ruin the whole batch), cook until mushy (about 10 minutes), run them through a strainer or food mill. We used a Foley Food Mill, which I highly recommend. I think it was the two quart size but I am not sure. It was very easy to use and clean up. After all of the jars were filled, we processed them for 25 minutes in the water bath canner. Don't forget to warm up the glass so it doesn't shatter in the canner (I just ran them under hot water for a minute or so).

Homemade Yogurt

We have finally succeeded at making our own yogurt. It is really quite easy to do. This was our third attempt but after each failure we learned a little more. All you need to have in order to make yogurt is milk (any kind will do - skim or whole or something in between), yogurt, a crock pot, jars with lids (we just use pint-size canning jars), towels, and a meat thermometer (not really necessary but it makes me feel more comfortable). You can add powdered milk but we were out so it didn't happen this time. Here is the recipe we went off of (for the most part). Here is what we did:

First, heat up 4 cups of milk in a saucepan to 175 degrees (F). Stir it occasionally to be sure the heat is distributed evenly. It helps to have a candy thermometer clipped on the pan so you don't get the milk too hot or not hot enough. This will kill any bacteria that may compete with the wanted bacteria in the yogurt.

Next, remove from heat and allow the milk to cool to 110 degrees (F).

Once it has reached 110 degrees, add 1/4 cup of plain, unsweetened yogurt with live active cultures. The yogurt should be as fresh as possible to get the best results. You can also add 1/3 cup of powdered milk at this point. Stir well. Pour into jars and put the lids on.

Place the jars into a crock pot, pack with towels, and turn the crock pot on for a little while to heat up. I placed the meat thermometer between one of the jars and the towels so I could monitor the temperature. You want the temperature to be between 100 and 110 degrees (F) for about 8-10 hours. Do not leave the crock pot on the whole time because it will get too hot and kill the bacteria, leaving you with sour milk. If it goes below 100 degrees the bacteria will not incubate properly. All I did was turn the crock pot on high for about 10 minutes then turned it off for the rest of the time. It was about 10 hours later when it was down to 95 degrees and by that time it had firmed up and turned into yogurt. Do not stir the yogurt or jostle around the jars while they are incubating. They should sit as still as possible.

Once it has incubated for about 10 hours remove the jars from the crock pot and place them in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it. When you are ready to eat, add whatever you would want in your yogurt - vanilla, sugar or honey, fruit... - and eat it up. You can use this as the starter for your next batch.

10 hours may sound like a long time but in reality your are only working for about 20 minutes then they just sit. Other than peek at the thermometer a few times, I didn't pay the yogurt any attention. It turned out fantastic!

Soup's On

I can't say that I know anyone who doesn't like soup, especially starting around this time of year. The weather is cooling off, the days are getting shorter, and gardens are ready to go to sleep for the winter. We have been bring back soup for a couple weeks now. This soup is a great way to finish off your summer squash. I used yellow crook neck squash from a friend's over productive garden but you can use any soft summer squash (zucchini included). Totally easy. Totally delicious. Inspiration from here.

Summer Squash Soup

1½ pounds summer squash

2 Tbsp butter

1 medium onion (or 2 Tbsp dehydrated onions)

¼ lemon, sliced, seeds removed (or ½ Tbsp lemon juice)

¼ cup flour

6 cups chicken broth

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp white pepper (black pepper will work fine too)

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper, ground (plus more for garnish)

1 cup milk (or cream)

1. Wash and trim squash. Slice, reserving 8 very thin slices for garnish.

2. In a large saucepan (or soup pot) melt butter. Add onion and lemon and sauté. Sprinkle with flour and cook slowly, stirring, until flour is absorbed. Add chicken broth gradually, then add sliced squash, salt, and pepper. Simmer about 30 minutes or so until squash is tender.

3. Puree soup in blender or food processer. Return to pot, stir in cayenne and milk with wire whisk and cook over medium-low heat. Do not allow to boil.

4. Ladle into individual bowls and garnish with reserved sliced squash and a sprinkling of cayenne.

Makes 8 servings

1167 total calories (146 Calories per serving)

Canning

It is hard for some to believe but I hadn't ever canned until this week. I love it! I am addicted. First we canned plums that we picked at the home of a friend of a friend. We started with about 40 pounds of plums (Italian prunes) and ended with 21 quarts of plums in syrup. We did it as our Family Home Evening lesson/activity. My 20 month old handed me plums, I rinsed them off, my husband cut them in half, and our 6 year old removed the pits and packed them into the jars. After a while of that I moved on to making the syrup by boiling 5 cups of water with 3 cups of sugar. I filled the jars then when 7 were done we processed them. I only had 14 quart jars so we had to use 14 pint jars too, which made for 4 batches. I had two quart jars burst in the canner but other than that, they all sealed and worked just fine. We think the two burst because the syrup cooled too much so the temperature changed too much when they hit the boiling water. For the rest we placed the jars into hot tap water for a couple minutes to warm up the glass before putting them in the canner. It seemed to work. I followed these instructions.

Then on Wednesday my friend and I went out and picked grapes and tomatoes from another friend who had an abundance. We ended up with about 85 pounds of grapes, which we juiced in an awesome steamer-juicer. We ended up with 24 quarts and about 20 liters of juice. The quart jars seal on their own because the juice comes out of the steamer at about 200 or so degrees so you just put on a clean lid and as it cools it seals. The liter bottles are just old juice and soda bottles that we pop into the freezer. To drink the juice I dilute it to about 50% and add a little sugar (some of the grapes were not fully ripe yet). It is so delicious. I am not a fan of most store-bought grape juices but this is totally different, and oh so delicious.

On Friday, while we were finishing up the grape juice, I tried my hand at canning tomatoes. It was really easy. I blanched the tomatoes to remove the skins (place in boiling water for 30-60 seconds or until the skin splits, then remove and place in cold water for a few seconds) then I quartered the tomatoes (they were roma tomatoes so they weren't too large) and stuffed them into pint jars. Because tomatoes have been bred lately to have less acid, you have to add lemon juice (1 Tbsp per pint, 2 Tbsp per quart) to inhibit the growth of bacteria (Whose idea was it to take out the acid in tomatoes? Just leave the darn things alone.) So, after I added the lemon juice I added boiling water until I had 1/2 inch head space, put on a clean lid, and screwed on the ring. I ran them in hot tap water to avoid bursting then processed them. We got 16 pints of tomatoes (3 were just yellow pear tomatoes, which I did whole because they are so small).

Now I am stuck between being excited to use my home-canned produce in recipes all winter and being afraid I will use them all too quickly, which makes me not want to use them. Does anyone else have that problem?

No More Nausea!

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. To my credit, the whole first trimester of this pregnancy was spent with me unable to think about pretty much any food at any time. Now that I have recovered from that (although I still am struggling with bread and brown rice), I hope to be posting more.

I never did post my solution to my cooking spray post. I received some emails on the subject then did a little trial and error and found that the best solution was to butter the pan with cold butter and lightly dust it with flour. I only have to flour the bottom of my bread pans and the bread just slides out. Good luck!

Brown Rice

(image from Wikimedia)

We switched to eating all whole wheat about 6 months ago (previously we used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour). The change has been great. Most recipes adapt very well. Ever since then I have been thinking about whether our delicious, wonderfully yummy, and easy to cook white Basmati rice is really the best option for our family. After doing some research, it became evident that we should really make the switch to brown rice (it has more nutrients naturally and like other whole grains it is better for the body). I have to admit that I had a few concerns - would it be crunchy? (all of my other attempts yielded crunchy rice because I couldn't cook it long enough without it drying out); would it take too long to cook?; would it be good alone? (we like what we call breakfast rice - warm rice with butter, sugar, and cinnamon) - but I forged ahead anyway (I could always go back, right?). I found this website that made me confident in my abilities. It was heavenly. I am not kidding. It was not crunchy (although it does have a bit more chew to it than white rice), it only took about 20 minutes more to cook than white rice (from about 25 minutes to 45 minutes), it makes absolutely wonderful breakfast rice (in fact, it is much more filling), and it has a nuttier flavor, which we all really like. So, here is how I make it:

Brown Rice

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup brown rice

Add both ingredients to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a low boil. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes.

1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked

1 cup cooked = 225 calories

To make breakfast rice, place about 1 cup cooked rice in a bowl and add about 1/2 Tbsp butter, 2-3 tsp granulated sugar, and sprinkle on some cinnamon; stir and eat. (1 serving = 350 calories)

Pizza

My husband introduced me to Pizza Margherita, a deliciously simple pizza that really is made up of crust, sliced fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and fresh mozzarella cheese. We love it and have started to make all of our pizzas starting off from this very basic idea. Sometimes I add chopped garlic or hamburger. It is really delicious and easy (and the kids LOVE it). Here is my recipe for pizza dough (adapted from a Honey-Whole Wheat pizza dough recipe from Win-Co):

Pizza Dough

2¼ tsp yeast
1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp honey
¼ cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp cornmeal


1. Rinse mixing bowl in warm water (to warm it up). To the warm bowl add water, yeast, and honey. Mix and allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the wheat germ, salt, and flour. Mix the dough in a mixer. Knead the dough for about 9 minutes in the mixer. Cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F and prepare pan by coating with oil and sprinkling with cornmeal.

4. Press dough onto prepared pan. Dock with a fork to prevent it from puffing up. Bake for about 2 minutes in hot oven. Add toppings then place back in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Servings 1 pizza (8 slices)
1100 total calories (138 calories per slice)

Vegetarian BBQ

Most people are afraid that if they were to go vegetarian they would miss out on BBQ. I am here to tell you they are dead wrong. Here is a great recipe for a BBQ Bean Sandwich that will make even a lion happy:

BBQ Bean Sandwiches

1 pound dry beans (pinto, black, navy…)
4 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dry mustard
½ tsp chili powder
4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup vinegar
2 cups tomato juice
½ cup ketchup
1 cup water (or bean juice)


1. Soak beans. Drain. Cover with water (2 inches above top of beans), bring to boil simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours (you want them to be a little firm). Drain beans (if you want to use bean juice in the sauce, reserve 1 cup of juice). Replace in cooking pot.

2. In a sauce pan whisk together all other ingredients. Bring to boil and let simmer for 15 minutes. Pour sauce over beans, stir, and heat to low boil. Allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. Serve on buns.

Makes about 16 servings
1000 total calories (63 Calories per serving)

As you may have already guessed, I make my own buns. They are very easy. I just use my regular bread recipe but instead of making two loaves I divide it up and make 16 buns. To keep them from sticking to the pan I use either parchment paper or oil with a light dusting of flour. Slice them in half and fill with delicious BBQ Beans.

For all of you who would prefer eating meat, this sauce is usable on beef, pork, and chicken. Just pour over shredded meat and let simmer for at least an hour (you can make a roast in a crock pot, shred the meat, return it to the crock pot, pour the sauce over the meat, stir, and let it simmer for at least an hour).

If you want to make less, halve everything except the vinegar (you still want 1/4 cup of vinegar).

(In all honesty, I made up my first line. Additionally, I am not a vegetarian, I just eat like one - most of the time.)

Beans

Here are simple instructions on how to use dry beans.

1. Rinse Dry Beans.
Measure out the amount of dry beans you want to use. 1 pound of beans is about 2 1/2 cups of dry beans. Place in colander and rinse under running water.

2. Soak Beans.
Place beans in pot and cover with water (2-inches above top of beans). Bring the water to boiling and let boil for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, place lid on pot, and let beans sit for at least 2 hours.

3. Cook Beans.
Drain soak water off beans. Cover with clean water, drain off. Cover with more water (2-inches above top of beans) and place on stove. Bring to boiling. Allow to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender but not mushy. Be sure to check on your beans periodically so they don't dry out and burn. If the water is below the top of the beans, just add more water and continue cook until done.

You are done with your beans. See, that wasn't too hard.

Butter

I made butter! It tasted like...butter! I have been intrigued by this for about two weeks. Who knew that you could just make butter with whipping cream? I didn't so when I saw this on a blog (I don't remember which one) I was very interested. Then I saw it on Angry Chicken's blog and she said it was a lot of fun to make. So, I decided that I would give it a try. My husband had to push me a little (I was a bit scared that it wouldn't work out). Yesterday morning before leaving for work he said, "Are you making bread for dinner?" I said, "Yes." Then he said, "I would really like to have homemade butter on our bread." So I did it. It was really easy. I started small with 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, poured it into the bowl of my KitchenAid and started whisking. I watched and watched. Within 20 minutes I had butter. I was completely finished and cleaned up about 40 minutes after starting. If you are interested in making your own butter go to this site. It is a bit wordy but very helpful.

Plant a Garden

Food tastes better when prepared with fresh ingredients. Grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs from seeds! Learn how here.

Pioneers Didn't Use Cooking Spray

In my ongoing effort to be more like the pioneers - self-reliant, natural, dedicated to real food... - I have stopped buying many things that I used to buy such as box mixes, salad dressing, ketchup, etc. Included in this is cooking spray. It just doesn't seem right that there is this stuff that has magical properties such as no calories and the ability to keep things from sticking. I have tried everything. Oil works fine for cookies but not bread. Butter also does not work on bread. Why in the devil is my beautiful, delicious bread sticking to my pans? What is with that? I am so irritated. So, if anyone has any ideas please send them my way. I am just flabbergasted. Flabbergasted.

Fun and Easy Snack

Last week was spring break for my 5 year old. He wanted to have crackers for snack so he asked if we could make some. Crackers are quite easy and can be very fun. Together we made rectangles, triangles, and squares. By then he was tired of making crackers so I finished them (and surprised him) with his name made from crackers. It was quite a treat. This recipe came from my friend's food blog Practical Preparedness and Healthy Eating (recipe here)

Wheat Thins

1¼ cups whole wheat flour
1½ Tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt (plus more for dusting top, if desired)
¼ tsp paprika
4 Tbsp butter
¼ cup water


1. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut in the butter until it is pea sized. Add the water and knead until smooth (I use the KitchenAid for about 5 minutes).

2. Preheat oven to 400°F.

3. Divide the dough into four pieces; keep other pieces covered while working with one. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into square about ⅛” thick. Cut into squares using rotary cutter. Repeat until all dough has been used.

4. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, if desired (it totally worth it). Bake for about 7-10 minutes or until they start to brown (be careful because they can burn quickly).

Makes 8 servings
975 total calories (122 Calories per serving)

Chicken Paella

About 2 weeks ago I was watching Martha and her guest made a yummy looking paella chock full of clams, octopus, shrimp, chicken, and more. It looked so good so I suggested it to my husband who knew much more about paella than me (until I saw that episode of Martha I had never even heard of paella - I took French in High School). We searched around the internet for a paella that was easy and inexpensive (as much as I would love to have tons of shellfish it is really not in our budget right now). We found two recipes that looked promising - this one and one from Martha. I went off of them and created my own recipe, which the whole family loved. I don't have a paella pan so I just used my large stock pot (my skillet doesn't have a lid). Go ahead and give it a try. (FYI I used basmati rice because that is what we like and have so if you intend to use something like brown rice it may need more time and liquid).

Chicken Paella

2 Tbsp oil
½ onion, chopped or 1 Tbsp dehydrated onions
½ green pepper, chopped
½ red pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
3 cloves garlic (2 chopped, 1 smashed with the heel of your hand)
1½ cups uncooked rice
4 cups chicken stock
½ cup frozen (or fresh) peas
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1-2 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp dry Parsley


1. Heat oil in paella pan or large skillet (be sure you have a lid that fits well because you will need it later). To hot oil add onion and peppers. Sauté until peppers soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add 2 cloves chopped garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and chicken. Cook until tomatoes are soft and flavors meld, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking to pan.

2. Meanwhile, in a mortar (bowl for crushing herbs) add 1 clove of smashed garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric, and parsley. Crush with a pestle to form a paste-like mixture.

3. To the vegetable mixture on the stove, add the rice and stir until the rice becomes somewhat translucent. Add the seasonings from step two, stir well. Add the stock and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the mixture comes to a boil cover, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is done, about 15-20 minutes. Finally stir in the peas and let cook for about 2-5 minutes to heat the peas through. Serve warm.

Makes 8 servings
1823 total calories (228 Calories per serving)

Lovely Little Snack

Last night my husband and 5 year old surprised me with a yummy little family dessert. It was sweetened peanut butter (peanut butter with honey) and jelly sandwiches on shortbread. Because you shouldn't eat PB&J without milk, you shouldn't have dessert PB&J with out a dessert milk (or Creme Anglaise in our case). It was a tasty little treat!

Stock - Chicken or Turkey

This is a recipe everyone should own - it will save you lots of money with minimal effort. Just buy a whole chicken (or turkey), roast it (or you could just pop it into a crockpot on high for 4-6 hours), then eat. After you are finished eating the meat, pick off the rest and store for future use. Keep the carcass and make stock. So easy, so rewarding. I freeze my stock by measuring 2 cup increments into quart sized freezer bags (be sure to label with contents and date). Seal the bags and lay them flat on a cookie sheet, place the cookie sheet(s) in the freezer overnight, then in the morning you will have easy to store bags of stock. To use the stock you can just place the bag in a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave for 1 minute, then add to whatever you are making that calls for stock. You could also plan ahead and let it defrost either on the counter or in the refrigerator (just be sure to place the bag in a bowl so it won't leak). After Thanksgiving I used the turkey carcass (in my roasting oven) to make tons of stock. Anyhow, here is the recipe:

Chicken/Turkey Stock

1 carcass, practically picked clean
2 bay leaves
1 onion, peeled and quartered (or a handful of dehydrated onions)
2 carrots, peeled and quartered (or a handful or so of dehydrated carrots)
1 sprig of thyme


1. Toss all ingredients into a large stock pot and fill with water (the water should cover as much of the carcass as possible).
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.
3. Strain. It is easiest for me to pour everything except the carcass into a large measuring cup (with a spout) then pour the broth from there through the strainer. Freeze in quart bags in 2 cup increments.

Great Idea! You can also use the tops of carrots and the bottoms of garlic cloves (that would otherwise be thrown out or composted) to season the stock. Just pop them into baggies in the freezer and pull them out when you are ready to use them.

Black Bean Soup

I had planned on posting a picture of this soup but I totally spaced it when I served it (we had company, if that makes it better) and we ate it all up - even our company's six year old son who took one look at it and said, "That doesn't even look good. I don't want to eat it." I have to agree with him that this is not a pretty soup but after taking one bite to try it, he gobbled up his whole bowl and asked for more. So on that note, here is my recipe for black bean soup:

Black Bean Soup

1 onion, finely chopped or 2 Tbsp dehydrated onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups stock
4 cups cooked black beans
½ tsp salt
½ Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp lemon juice or juice from ½ of a lemon
1½ Tbsp cornstarch
1½ Tbsp cold water


1. In a pot combine the onions, garlic, and stock. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. Add 1 cup beans, salt, and cumin. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Puree soup using either immersion blender or a regular blender (do it in batches).

4. Pour pureed soup back to the pot. Add remaining beans and lemon juice. This should be a thicker soup, but if it is looking too dry, add some water in ¼ cup increments.

5. In a small bowl with a lid combine the cornstarch and cold water, replace lid, and shake until combined. Pour cornstarch mixture into soup and stir continually until thickened and heated through.

Makes 4 servings
930 total calories (232 Calories per serving)

Naan

Naan is a traditional Indian flat bread that is often used in place of silverware at meals. It is often made with white flour but we don't use white flour so I made these with whole wheat flour. They were perfect with our yogurt chicken.

Naan

3 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp honey
¾ cup water
4 tsp plain (unsweetened) yogurt
¼ cup butter, melted (or oil)


1. Combine flour, yeast, salt, oil, and honey in large bowl. Add water and mix well. Add yogurt and mix until a cohesive ball of dough is formed. Cover with a towel and let sit for about an hour.

2. Divide dough into 8 pieces, shape pieces into balls (use flour to keep dough from sticking). Allow balls to sit, covered with towel, for about 20 minutes or until they double in size.

3. Preheat oven to 500°F. Coat each ball with small amount of flour and roll out to about ½” thick.

4. Place flattened dough on baking sheet (it works really well to bake two at a time on a cookie sheet). Brush with melted butter then bake for just a few (2-5) minutes (watch carefully!). Once they are baked, wrap them loosely in a towel until the rest are finished. Serve warm.

Makes 8 servings
1900 total calories (238 Calories per serving)

Yogurt Chicken

Rarely do we have meat. When we do it is usually a whole chicken because they are cheap and I can get at least 4 meals out of one chicken. Sometimes, however, we need a change so we have something exciting like drumsticks or thighs (because they come in large, inexpensive packages so I can just freeze them and thaw only what we will eat for a particular meal). One of the most delicious meals you can make with things like drumsticks is yogurt chicken. This is an Indian inspired dish that is not spicy but very flavorful. I first found this recipe in the book Cooking the Indian Way by Vijay Madavan at our local library while I was looking for books to teach our eldest son about Indian food and culture. Since then I have tweaked it to fit our tastes. Here it what I have come up with:

Yogurt Chicken

6 – 8 pieces of chicken (drumsticks, thighs…)
1 tsp salt
1 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
4 Tbsp butter, melted


1. Prick chicken several times with a fork and place in large bowl (preferably with a lid). In a small bowl combine salt, yogurt, ginger, garlic, and curry powder, pour over chicken, cover bowl, and refrigerate for 6 – 8 hours.

2. To cook chicken, preheat oven to 400°F. Pour half of the melted butter in a 13”x9” baking pan. Place chicken in roasting pan and pour yogurt mixture on top. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, reduce heat to 350°F, baste the chicken with the yogurt mixture and pour the remainder of the butter over the chicken. Return to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until chicken is done, basting about every 10 minutes.

3. To serve, don’t forget to pour the sauce over the chicken (it also helps to have some delicious naan to soak up any remaining sauce).

Makes 8 servings
1600 total calories (200 Calories per serving)

The Staff of Life

Make homemade bread. Just give it a try. It is so wonderful. Your home will smell warm and delicious, you will feel a nice sense of accomplishment, and you may never want to eat store-bought bread ever again. Or is that just me? Here is my recipe for Whole Wheat Bread (I was given a similar recipe at the LDS Home Storage Center aka Cannery, I made a few modifications, and voila!):

Whole Wheat Bread

4 cups warm water
3 Tbsp yeast
1½ Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
½ cup vital gluten (optional)
1 Tbsp salt
7-10 cups whole wheat flour

1. Rinse mixing bowl in warm water (to warm it up). To the warm bowl add water, yeast, and sugar. Mix and allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the oil, honey, gluten, salt, and about 3 cups of flour. Mix the dough in a mixer adding flour slowly until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl (you want a thicker dough). Knead the dough for 9 minutes in the mixer.

3. Grease four loaf pans (about 8.5”). Form dough into loaves and place into pans. Cover with a towel and let rise for 20-25 minutes.

4. Place on the upper rack of a cold (not preheated) oven. Set the temperature at 350°F and bake for 28-30 minutes. The bread will rise more as the oven heats up.

Makes 4 loaves, approximately 16 slices each
5381 total calories (78 Calories per serving)

Now, don't be discouraged if you don't have a mixer, this bread is really easy to make by hand as well. Just do it all the same except once you can't really stir the ingredients together start to knead it with your hands. Once a cohesive ball of dough is formed, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead it adding more flour as necessary to get to 7-10 cups. Knead for about 10 minutes, form loaves, place in pans and continue with the directions above.

Also, my mixer can't handle 10 cups of flour so I halve the recipe and make two loaves at a time. The only real tricky part is halving the honey and oil. I don't worry about it, I just estimate them by adding them together in the same measuring cup (they will add up to 1/3 cup). Sometimes you get more honey, sometimes more oil. It still works out just fine. Do you think people 200 years ago were as precise as we think we are?

Don't feel limited to a plain loaf of bread, try to add herbs or cinnamon (with the flour) for more flavors. I added cinnamon (1 Tbsp) to one loaf and used it for French Toast (Thanks for the breakfast idea Tammy!).

Tacos

I know that homemade cheesecake is hard to follow but it must be done. We have a very simplistic approach to tacos at our house - whole wheat tortillas, rice, beans, corn, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, sour cream, onions, olives... Each person gets to make their own tacos with whatever they like. Here are some taco basics:

Tortillas - Homemade and whole wheat tortillas are easy to make from scratch. I started with this recipe but have modified it by subbing out the shortening for butter. Here is my version:

Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas

4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup butter
1 to 1-1/4 cups water

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in butter. Then add water, a little at a time. After each addition stir the dough with a fork until it forms a cohesive ball of dough. Do not add too much water.
2. Knead dough ball about 20 times. Cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.
3. Divide dough into 20 pieces and roll into balls. Roll out the balls into thin circles about 7-8 inches in diameter*.
4. To cook, place tortillas one at a time in a hot dry skillet. Cook about 30 seconds per side. They should be dry and have a few brown spots on each side.
5. To make tortillas more pliable, place warm tortillas in a plastic bag and close it up – the steam will make them softer, and more flexible.

*To save tortillas for later, separate rolled out dough with wax paper and place in plastic bag and freeze (try to keep them flat).

Makes 20 servings
2000 total calories (100 Calories per serving)


Beans - Cooked Dry Beans are very simple. For tacos we often use black beans but sometimes I just use a combination of beans. If you make one pound of beans you can use half (or less) and freeze the rest. First you will need to soak the beans. One way to soak dry beans is to rinse one pound of dry beans, pour them into a large pot and cover with water about 2-inches above the top of the beans, bring the beans to a boil and let boil uncovered for two minutes. After the two minutes is up, turn off the heat, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and let them sit for at least 2 hours. OR you can rinse the dry beans, place them in a large bowl cover them with water and let them sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Once your beans have been soaked drain the water off, rinse the beans, and recover with water (in a large pot such as a stock pot because as you cook them they will grow). Bring the beans to a boil and allow to simmer for 1-2 hours. Do not put a lid on the beans or they will boil over (don't ask how many times it took before I learned that lesson). You will also need to watch to be sure the water doesn't boil off - the beans should be covered with water at all times. If you want to add more flavor to your beans, feel free to add a few cloves or garlic and/or onions (I use dehydrated onions). Voila! Now you have beans.

Homemade Cheesecake

I made up this recipe for my husband's birthday just last week. I altered it from a similar recipe that calls for yellow cake mix. Do you know what is in yellow cake mix? Neither do I and that can't be good. So, I decided that if I can make a yellow cake from scratch then I could totally make yellow cake mix from scratch. As I was making this I thought to myself, "If pioneers made cheesecake, this is how they would do it." I often compare my food to pioneer food because it was just so simple and went off of their food storage.

Homemade Cheesecake

2½ cups whole wheat flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1¾ cups sugar
6 2/3 Tbsp powdered milk (6 Tbsp plus a heaping ½ Tbsp)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4½ tsp vanilla (divided)
5 Tbsp water
4 large eggs
2 8-ounce packs of cream cheese (NOT Light)
½ cup sugar
1½ cups milk
3 tsp lemon juice


1. Heat oven to 300°F

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, 1 ¾ cups sugar, and powdered milk. Reserve 1 cup. To the remainder add vegetable oil, 1½ tsp vanilla, 1 egg, and water (1 Tbsp at a time, you may need more or less). Mix until just moist and starts to stick together. Press crust evenly on sides and bottom of greased 13” by 9” pan.

3. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add ½ cup sugar and continue to mix until fully incorporated. Add eggs one at a time being sure to mix well after each addition. Add reserved cake mix. Beat 1 minute on medium speed. At low speed, add milk, lemon juice, and 3 tsp vanilla. Mix until smooth.

4. Pour into crust. Bake at 300°F for 45-55 minutes until center is firm.

5. Allow to cool at room temperature before refrigerating.

Makes 24 servings
4992 total calories (208 Calories per serving)

For the topping, I was going to get cherry pie filling but I couldn't bear the high fructose corn syrup so I decided that I could make my own. Coincidentally, the grocery store had quarts of fresh blueberries so I grabbed one and made my own blueberry sauce based on this recipe. I was not patient enough to cook it on low so I upped the heat to medium-high and after I added the blueberries I boiled them for more like 5-8 minutes so some would pop open and some would still be whole. I let it cool to room temperature and served it at room temperature, which was just perfect against the cool cheesecake.

The Start

Welcome and Greetings! I am very excited to have a place where I can focus on food. My friends who have gotten random "I've come up with a new recipe" emails will probably also be happy for a cleaner inbox. As a little intro, my husband and I started our relationship with Hamburger Helper and have since transitioned (albeit slowly) to making things from scratch. I make about 95% or more of our food from scratch and I love it. Less ingredients, fewer calories, more flavor. This huge change in our lifestyle has come from many sources - being at one point too poor to eat meat at every meal, the Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 (better known as the Word of Wisdom), and a desire to simplify our lives. This blog will be where I post new recipes, talk about wonderfully yummy food we eat at restaurants, and whatever food or nutrition questions I am thinking through.